ARCA bistrô e bar — Restaurant in Lisbon

From the menu, this place showed a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to realize how mediocre the food was. Don’t get me wrong—this is still restaurant-quality food, but nothing you couldn’t make better at home.

We were a party of four, but I can only speak to my own experience. I ordered the entrecôte with vegetables and cauliflower purée for the main dish, along with the house couvert as a starter. The couvert was pleasant; whoever was responsible for the bread clearly put in some effort. It was served with “salsa butter”—as appealing as it sounded and looked when it arrived, it tasted like regular butter with a hint of salsa. At least the butter was soft.

Now, onto the main course: entrecôte with cauliflower purée. This is a well-known dish that any chef should know how to prepare well. Unfortunately, it was the most uninspired entrecôte I’ve ever had. An entrecôte steak is typically a thick cut, but here they decided to slice it to just a finger's width—a terrible idea. At this thickness, no chef can control the cooking properly. I ordered the steak rare, but it came out medium-well, with a large gray band and hardly any caramelization.

The cauliflower purée was made with a bit more finesse, though it was likely the generous amount of butter that saved it.

Tips for the restaurant: You’ve clearly spent time designing the menu; now it’s time to focus on the quality of ingredients, execution, and...

🌟 An Exceptional Culinary Experience – A Must in Lisbon! 🌟

Arca is, without exaggeration, my best gastronomic experience in Lisbon, and quite possibly one of the most memorable I’ve ever had internationally. The cuisine is creative, generous, and incredibly well-executed.

The dish that absolutely blew me away: the parmesan mousse with cured ham and figs – perfectly balanced, rich, and refined. The beef tartare over smoked eggplant purée is another standout, bursting with flavor.

Special mention to the duck, tender and beautifully prepared, and the reimagined Piri Piri chicken, elevated by a surprising and delicious dill sauce that brings freshness and originality to a traditional dish.

As a Frenchman and a food lover, I can confidently say that every single dish left me speechless. And the cocktails? Simply divine – creative, balanced, and worthy of the best mixology bars.

There are only two desserts on the menu, but both are exquisite. A perfect example of quality over quantity.

The value for money is unbeatable: between €15 and €25 per dish, which is remarkable for this level of execution. The service is flawless: warm, discreet, fast, and professional, all in a cozy, elegant, and unpretentious atmosphere.

In short, this is a restaurant that truly deserves a Michelin star. Huge congratulations to the whole team. Do not...

Update! We have been back a few times and there is always something new on the menu. This time it was a pumpkin risotto with raw prawns and a Corvina with grilled broccolini and puttanesca sauce and both were incredible! Here is the review from the last visit: It’s a bit hidden away on the edge of Bairro Alto/Chiado, but has beautiful modern and a bit funky decor (loved the paint splatter on the concrete floors). We tried our way through the wine menu and loved the unfiltered, mildly sparking wine from Cataluñya. The local orange wine was also incredible. We basically loved all of the wine recommendations by the manager (who is also a sommelier). We tried our way through the Menu food wise as well and were also quite impressed! The Meze dips with Pita were delicious and the Mackrele were also very good! The roasted cauliflower with Jogurt dip was out of this world (the best cauliflower we have ever had). Popcorn shrimp were really well done and we ended up sharing the Dorada at the end and it was very much worth it! I can definitely recommend everything we tried, especially trying different wines as opposed to buying a bottle. They have put quite a bit of thought into the wine Menu and it’s worth drinking a few different glasses! All in all, absolutely...